Kelp Information Filtration

At Kelp, we believe in transparency and protecting your privacy. This policy explains how we collect, use, and safeguard your information when you use our AI-powered information filtration service.

We only collect what we need to provide you with a personalized, valuable experience. We never sell your data, and we use industry-standard security practices to keep your information safe.

1. Information We Collect

Account Information (via Google OAuth)

When you sign in with Google, we collect your email address, name, and profile picture. This information is used to create and authenticate your account.

Onboarding & Preferences

During onboarding, we collect professional information to personalize your experience:

Your profession, seniority level, and industry
Your location (to provide relevant local content)
Topics you're interested in learning about
Email delivery preferences (frequency, format)

Usage & Interaction Data

We collect information about how you interact with Kelp to improve your personalized feed:

Content you mark as helpful or interesting
Feed preferences and customizations
Time spent reading different topics
Search queries and filter selections

Automatically Collected Information

Like most web services, we automatically collect certain technical information:

IP address and general location
Browser type and version
Device information
Pages visited and features used
Session duration and timestamps

2. How We Use Your Information

We use your information to:

Personalize Your Feed: Our AI uses your preferences and interactions to curate content specifically relevant to your professional interests and expertise level.
Generate Weekly Digests: We create and send personalized email summaries based on your preferred topics and delivery schedule.
Improve Our Service: We analyze usage patterns to refine our content filtration algorithms and make Kelp more valuable for knowledge workers.
Authenticate & Secure Your Account: We maintain secure sessions and protect your account from unauthorized access.
Communicate With You: We send service updates, respond to support requests, and notify you about important changes.

We do NOT use your information to:

Sell or rent your personal data to third parties
Display targeted advertising
Share your preferences with content sources or partners
Train public AI models or sell AI insights

3. Data Storage & Security

How We Store Your Data

Your data is stored in a secure PostgreSQL database hosted by Supabase. We implement Row Level Security (RLS) policies to ensure that your data is isolated and can only be accessed by you or authorized system processes.

Security Measures

We protect your information using:

Encryption: All data transmitted between your browser and our servers is encrypted using SSL/TLS (HTTPS)
Secure Authentication: We use industry-standard OAuth 2.0 through Google for secure sign-in
Database Security: Row Level Security policies ensure data isolation at the database level
Environment Protection: API keys and sensitive credentials are encrypted and never exposed in code
Regular Updates: We maintain up-to-date security patches for all systems

Data Retention

We retain your account data for as long as your account is active. If you delete your account, we will permanently delete your personal information within 30 days, except where we're required to retain it for legal compliance.

4. Third-Party Services

Kelp integrates with the following trusted third-party services:

Google OAuth

For secure authentication. Google's privacy policy: policies.google.com/privacy

Vercel (Hosting & Analytics)

For hosting and basic analytics (page views, performance metrics). Vercel's privacy policy: vercel.com/legal/privacy-policy

Vercel AI Gateway (Google Gemini)

For AI-powered content analysis and summarization. Your content preferences are processed to generate personalized recommendations but are not used to train public models.

Resend

For delivering your weekly email digests. Resend's privacy policy: resend.com/legal/privacy-policy

Supabase

For secure database hosting. Supabase's privacy policy: supabase.com/privacy

Inngest

For background job processing (content crawling, digest generation). Inngest's privacy policy: inngest.com/privacy

5. Your Rights & Choices

You have the following rights regarding your data:

Access Your Information

You can view and update your profile, preferences, and topic interests at any time through your Settings page.

Control Email Delivery

Adjust your email frequency or opt-out entirely from your Settings page. You can also unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of any email we send.

Delete Your Account

You can request account deletion at any time. Contact us at privacy@kelp.nyc and we'll permanently delete your data within 30 days.

Export Your Data

Request a copy of your data by contacting privacy@kelp.nyc. We'll provide your information in a structured, machine-readable format.

California Residents (CCPA)

California residents have additional rights under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), including the right to know what personal information is collected, request deletion, and opt-out of sales (though we never sell your data). Contact us to exercise these rights.

European Residents (GDPR)

If you're in the European Economic Area, you have rights under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) including access, rectification, erasure, data portability, and the right to object to processing. Contact us to exercise these rights.

6. Cookies & Tracking

Kelp uses minimal cookies and tracking technologies to provide core functionality:

Essential Cookies

Required for authentication and maintaining your logged-in session. These cannot be disabled without breaking core functionality.

Analytics

We use Vercel Analytics to understand how users interact with Kelp (page views, feature usage). This helps us improve the service. These analytics are privacy-friendly and don't track you across other websites.

No Advertising

We do not use advertising cookies, third-party tracking pixels, or behavioral advertising networks. We don't sell your data to advertisers.

8. Changes to This Policy

We may update this privacy policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for legal/regulatory reasons. When we make significant changes, we'll notify you via email and update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page.

Your continued use of Kelp after changes indicates your acceptance of the updated policy.

Privacy Policy